Looking for fiction not set on Earth yet not sci fi or fantasy

[Mr Awe]

I've heard of this. Maybe it's worth investigating further.

My recommendation seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. Check out The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. Details in my post above.

Mr Awe

 

[Othello]

There are a ton of good book in that vein on amazon

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b...ld-keywords=alternate+history+fiction&x=0&y=0

 

[Christopher]

Taking the thread title literally, there is one way to tell a story that isn't set on Earth but isn't SF/fantasy: tell a story about the Apollo missions, or about a Space Shuttle mission or events aboard the International Space Station. The former would qualify as historical fiction, while the latter could be a contemporary story that just happens to take place in orbit.

 

[Mysterion]

Maybe you might try Islandia by Austin Tappan Wright. (http://www.amazon.com/Islandia-Aust...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237344261&sr=1-1)

Takes place on Earth, but almost entirely on a continent of the author's devising. Other than the geography of a new continent, there is pretty much no fantasy or SF content to speak of.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

How about 1632 by Eric Flint? It's sort of alternate timeline stuff where a small city in West Virginia is transported to the middle of europe in during the thirty years war. The townspeople are left to figure out exactly what happened to them, how to survive with what came with them, and then how to interact with their new and interesting neighbors...

Here, try it for free, it's on baens free library!
http://www.webscription.net/ps-379-40-1632.aspx

Enjoy!

AG

 

[PurpleBuddha]

You probably watched Kings by now, but I will give my impression anyway. I thought it was very good. And while it is technically based on mythology from our past, it seems to be exactly what you are talking about here. I guess it takes place on earth, but not earth with any nations states we currently recognize, yet it occurs in modern time.

I think the show has much potential.

 

[Aquehonga]

What's his face, I wish I could successfully answer your question here & help you get exactly what you want.

But, your topic seems inherently & intrinsically paradoxical.

Maybe not

Sorry

 

[What's his face]

You probably watched Kings by now, but I will give my impression anyway. I thought it was very good. And while it is technically based on mythology from our past, it seems to be exactly what you are talking about here. I guess it takes place on earth, but not earth with any nations states we currently recognize, yet it occurs in modern time.

I think the show has much potential.

Unfortunately I was busy tonight but I will be able to get to it tomorrow. From what I've heard, though, you are right. Kings appears to be the closest thing to what I'm looking for. It's essentially the same as 21st century North America except in a completely fictional country/planet setting. The upcoming BSG spinoff, Caprica is also similar.

What's his face, I wish I could successfully answer your question here & help you get exactly what you want.

But, your topic seems inherently & intrinsically paradoxical.

Maybe not

Sorry

Yeah, I understand that. I'm not even sure I know exactly what I'm asking for

Oh well. my curiosity on this subject will eventually fade. That or I will write a sci fi novel and start a new genre

 

[ATimson]

I thought someone might mention 1984, but keep in mind that book takes place on Earth.

So does "Kings." There is no evidence to the contrary.

Not only is there no evidence Kings isn't set on Earth, but with references to Lizst, it has to take on Earth.

 

[What's his face]

I thought someone might mention 1984, but keep in mind that book takes place on Earth.

So does "Kings." There is no evidence to the contrary.

Not only is there no evidence Kings isn't set on Earth, but with references to Lizst, it has to take on Earth.

I stand corrected. Although considering the show's subject matter, that could very easily not have been the case.

 

[Australis]

I think the closest you're going to get, as a few have said above, is alt history that is very different to ours rather than ca close parallel.

What about the Pern series? Different world, olde-worlde tech, the dragons are bred from indiginous fauna (which has happened here).

Personally, I don't think exploring our contemporary tech oin a different world is a terribly interesting idea.

OTOH, I've been idly tossing around in the back of my mind an idea about a force of warrior monks establishing a chain of monastery fortresses to hold back the destructive barbarians. That could be on a different world, or after the fall of an alt Rome, turning this world into a very different place. It might be then interesting to see how the 21st Century 'is', after such an event.

 

[Sci]

I was going to say, any story that's not set on Earth is by definition a science fiction or fantasy story, since it's not like Human beings have ever actually lived anywhere else.

Then Christopher pointed out that you can tell a story set on the ISS or the Apollo missions, and they wouldn't be set on Earth but wouldn't be science fiction.

Oh well.

 

[Mistral]

I think the no scifi/fantasy rule is killing options. 1632 was mentioned.
www.crucis.net/ericflint for almost all of the series. I'll add more later.

ed.-ok, just saw Kings. Good show, lots of potential-try not to get hooked, it will probably get smoked by the network as they usually kill off anything daring.

In keeping with that-Harry Turtledove has a teen series about alternate Americas-I believe its called his Crosstime Traffic series-that deals with interesting "almost" Americas. One of the titles is The Disunited States.

There's also S. M. Stirling's Draka series, if you have the stomach for it. Marching Through Georgia, Under the Yoke and The Stone Dogs forms the main body and can be purchased in an omnibus edition.

You might also try Ken Grimwald's Rewind. Its a time-travel story, where the world is changed each time the protagonist travels back in time-something he does a lot.

You could also delve into this:

http://www.changingthetimes.net/index.html

It changes monthly and has a huge archive as well.

 

[DigificWriter]

Hi, what's his face. It sounds to me like you're looking for 'alternate history' fiction, so here's some series reccommendations:
Merlin's Descendants by Irene Radford
The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne and Todd McCaffrey
Dune by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson
Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
Kushiel's Legacy by Jacqueline Carey
The Chalion series by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Rings of the Master by Jack L. Chalker

You also might like the novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke

Bear in mind, though, that, by its very nature, alternate history as a genre often incorporates elements of fantasy and science fiction, so many - if not all - of my reccommendations could also be classified as fantasy or sci-fi; there's just no getting around that.

 

[What's his face]

Thanks everyone I will certainly look at those suggestions.
I think I adequatly confused everyone enough for today

 

[Christopher]

How do Dune and Pern qualify as alternate history? They're both very much SF series set on alien planets in the distant future, although Pern has a medieval-fantasy flavor to much of it. I thought the OP was looking for fiction set in imaginary worlds at a more-or-less present-day technological and cultural level.

 

[Shawnster]

I think the book Anathem by Neal Stephenson is pretty similar to what you're looking for. It's set on a world called Arbre that is inhabited by a society that is human and doesn't have super advanced tech but things progressed differently on their world than they did on Earth.

I think this is the book I was referring to! Thanks! I knew it was an author I liked and a book I seriously considered buying.

Yes, definitely the one I was thinking of.

In this follow-up to his historical Baroque Cycle trilogy, which fictionalized the early-18th century scientific revolution, Stephenson (Cryptonomicon) conjures a far-future Earth-like planet, Arbre, where scientists, philosophers and mathematicians—a religious order unto themselves—have been cloistered behind concent (convent) walls. Their role is to nurture all knowledge while safeguarding it from the vagaries of the irrational saecular outside world. Among the monastic scholars is 19-year-old Raz, collected into the concent at age eight and now a decenarian, or tenner (someone allowed contact with the world beyond the stronghold walls only once a decade). But millennia-old rules are cataclysmically shattered when extraterrestrial catastrophe looms, and Raz and his teenage companions—engaging in intense intellectual debate one moment, wrestling like rambunctious adolescents the next—are summoned to save the world. Stephenson's expansive storytelling echoes Walter Miller's classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, the space operas of Larry Niven and the cultural meditations Douglas Hofstadter—a heady mix of antecedents that makes for long stretches of dazzling entertainment occasionally interrupted by pages of numbing colloquy. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

[diankra]

Taking the thread title literally, there is one way to tell a story that isn't set on Earth but isn't SF/fantasy: tell a story about the Apollo missions, or about a Space Shuttle mission or events aboard the International Space Station. The former would qualify as historical fiction, while the latter could be a contemporary story that just happens to take place in orbit.

You beat me to it... but most such stories would still include some input from Mission Control - characters who're back on Earth.

 

[What's his face]

I think the book Anathem by Neal Stephenson is pretty similar to what you're looking for. It's set on a world called Arbre that is inhabited by a society that is human and doesn't have super advanced tech but things progressed differently on their world than they did on Earth.

I think this is the book I was referring to! Thanks! I knew it was an author I liked and a book I seriously considered buying.

Yes, definitely the one I was thinking of.

In this follow-up to his historical Baroque Cycle trilogy, which fictionalized the early-18th century scientific revolution, Stephenson (Cryptonomicon) conjures a far-future Earth-like planet, Arbre, where scientists, philosophers and mathematicians—a religious order unto themselves—have been cloistered behind concent (convent) walls. Their role is to nurture all knowledge while safeguarding it from the vagaries of the irrational saecular outside world. Among the monastic scholars is 19-year-old Raz, collected into the concent at age eight and now a decenarian, or tenner (someone allowed contact with the world beyond the stronghold walls only once a decade). But millennia-old rules are cataclysmically shattered when extraterrestrial catastrophe looms, and Raz and his teenage companions—engaging in intense intellectual debate one moment, wrestling like rambunctious adolescents the next—are summoned to save the world. Stephenson's expansive storytelling echoes Walter Miller's classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, the space operas of Larry Niven and the cultural meditations Douglas Hofstadter—a heady mix of antecedents that makes for long stretches of dazzling entertainment occasionally interrupted by pages of numbing colloquy. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Oooooh this sounds interesting.

 

[Dark Gilligan]

Oooooh this sounds interesting.

What you're looking for is "alternate history". Stories set on Earths whose histories took a different turn than our own. The most common tropes are "What if Germany won World War II" or "What if the Confederate States left the Union?" Kings is most certainly an example of alternate history, set on an Earth like ours but not. There's a whole sub-genre of this stuff and Harry Turtledove is the grand master.